Child–Adult Differences in Using Dual-Task Paradigms to Measure Listening Effort

The purpose of the project was to investigate the effects modifying the secondary task in a dual-task paradigm to measure objective listening effort. To be specific, the complexity and depth of processing were increased relative to a simple secondary task

Child–Adult Differences in Using Dual-Task Paradigms to Measure Listening Effort

The purpose of the project was to investigate the effects modifying the secondary task in a dual-task paradigm to measure objective listening effort. To be specific, the complexity and depth of processing were increased relative to a simple secondary task

Consumer survey on hearing aid benefit and satisfaction

DATA AVAILABIITY STATEMENT : The data sets analyzed and the analysis scripts used during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Portions of this project were presented at the American Academy of Audiology conference (2021, virtual).PURPOSE : There is unexplained variability in self-reported hearing aid outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate determinants of hearing aid benefit and satisfaction ratings using a large-scale customer survey and to analyze the relation between demographic variables, hearing aid attributes, benefit, and satisfaction. METHOD : The study used a retrospective design wherein 2,109 hearing aid users, recruited by Hearing Tracker and Hearing Loss Association of America, completed an online survey. The survey included questions about demographics, perceived hearing loss, devices, service delivery, cost, benefit, and satisfaction. The analytic approach included descriptive summaries and regression models to evaluate potential determinants of hearing aid benefit and satisfaction ratings. RESULTS : Hearing aid sound quality, fit and comfort, and battery life were related to both benefit and satisfaction. Respondents who rated these outcomes favorably were also likely to benefit from, and be satisfied with, their hearing aids. Benefit was also related to degree of hearing loss, hearing aid experience, and cost. Hearing aid users with greater self-perceived hearing loss, more hearing aid experience, and more expensive hearing aids reported more benefit. Satisfaction was also related to age, employment status, and brand. Younger respondents, those who were students, and those using certain brands reported more satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS : The results highlight importance of good hearing aid outcomes (quality, fit/comfort, and battery life) for benefit and satisfaction ratings. Professionals who fit hearing aids should strive to focus on achieving these outcomes and researchers should strive to explain the remaining variability in ratings of benefit and satisfaction.https://pubs.asha.org/journal/jslhrhj2023Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Listening effort in school-age children with normal hearing compared to children with limited useable hearing unilaterally

OBJECTIVES : Children with limited hearing unilaterally might experience more listening effort than children with normal hearing, yet previous studies have not confirmed this. This study compared listening effort in school-age children with normal hearing and children with limited hearing unilaterally using behavioral and subjective listening effort measures. DESIGN : Two groups of school-age children (aged 7–12 years) participated: 19 with limited hearing unilaterally and 18 with normal hearing bilaterally. Participants completed digit triplet recognition tasks in quiet and in noise (−12 dB SNR) in three loudspeaker conditions: midline, direct, and indirect. Verbal response times during the recognition task were interpreted as behavioral listening effort. Subjective ratings of “task difficulty” and “hard to think” were interpreted as subjective listening effort. Participant age was included as a covariate in analysis of behavioral data. RESULTS : Noise negatively affected digit triplet recognition for both groups in the midline loudspeaker condition and for participants with limited hearing unilaterally in the direct and indirect conditions. Relative to their peers with normal hearing, children with limited hearing unilaterally exhibited significantly longer response times and higher ratings of effort only in the noisy, indirect condition. Differences between groups were evident even when age differences were controlled for statistically. CONCLUSIONS : Using behavioral and subjective indices of listening effort, children with limited unilateral hearing demonstrated significantly more listening effort relative to their peers with normal hearing during the difficult indirect listening condition. Implications include classroom accommodations to limit indirect listening situations for children with limited useable hearing unilaterally and consideration of intervention options.Sonova, AG.https://pubs.asha.org/journal/ajahj2022Electrical, Electronic and Computer EngineeringSpeech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Emotional Responses to Pleasant Sounds Are Related to Social Disconnectedness and Loneliness Independent of Hearing Loss

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between emotional responses to sounds, hearing acuity, and isolation, specifically objective isolation (social disconnectedness) and subjective isolation (loneliness). It was predicted that ratings of valence in response to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli would influence the relationship between hearing loss and isolation. Participants included 83 adults, without depression, who were categorized into three groups (young with normal hearing, older with normal hearing, and adults with mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss). Participants made ratings of valence in response to pleasant and unpleasant nonspeech sounds, presented at a moderate overall level in the laboratory. Participants also completed questionnaires related to social disconnectedness and loneliness. Data were analyzed using multiple regression with questionnaire scores as dependent variables. Independent variables were age, gender, degree of hearing loss, perceived hearing handicap, number of depressive symptoms, mean valence rating in response to unpleasant sounds, and mean valence rating in response to pleasant sounds. Emotional responses to pleasant sounds explained significant variability in scores of both social disconnectedness and loneliness. Depressive symptoms also explained variability in loneliness scores. Hearing loss was not significantly related to social disconnectedness or loneliness, although it was the only variable significantly related to ratings of valence in response to pleasant sounds. Emotional responses to pleasant sounds are related to disconnectedness and loneliness. Although not related to isolation in this study, hearing loss was related to emotional responses. Thus, emotional responses should be considered in future models of isolation and hearing loss

Dual-task paradigm measures of listening effort : to include or not to include secondary task responses with incorrect primary task responses

Response time-based dual-task paradigms are commonly adopted to measure behavioral listening effort. Most extant studies used an all-response approach that included secondary task responses under both correct and incorrect primary task responses during analysis. However, evidence supporting this strategy is limited. Therefore, the current study investigated the potential differences between including all responses versus only including correct responses. Data from two previous studies were reanalyzed. Experiment 1 included 16 listeners and used a dual-task paradigm to examine the effect of introducing background noise on listening effort. Experiment 2 included 19 participants and used a different dual-task paradigm to examine the effect of reverberation and loudspeaker-to-listener distance on listening effort. ANOVA results obtained using both analysis approaches were compared. The all-response and correct-only approaches revealed similar results. However, larger effect sizes and an additional main effect were found with the all-response approach. The current study supports the use of an all-response approach due to its greater sensitivity to changes in behavioral listening effort. However, a correct-only approach could be utilized to suit specific study purposes.2024-03-28hj2023Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Avoiding disconnection: An evaluation of telephone options for cochlear implant users

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of coupling method on telephone-based speech recognition and perceived listening difficulty in noise for cochlear implant (CI) users. A secondary aim was to evaluate potential impacts of additional processing modifications within coupling conditions, such as activating noise reducing algorithms or muting environmental microphones.Design: Hochmair-Schulz-Moser sentences were bandpass-filtered (300-3400Hz) and presented unilaterally either via telephone handset or advanced wireless streaming device in a background of cafeteria babble (signal-to-noise ratio =15dB). Sentence recognition was scored at the word level and perceived listening difficulty was assessed via visual-analogue scale for each of five test conditions. Study sample: Twenty native German-speaking CI users participated. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed coupling via advanced streaming significantly improved sentence recognition and reduced listening difficulty, when compared to either telecoil or acoustic coupling configurations. In addition, program modifications further increased benefit within a coupling condition. CI users who exhibited the most difficulty during basic acoustic coupling were most likely to benefit from advanced wireless streaming. Conclusion: CI users have several options for improving speech recognition and decreasing listening difficulty over the telephone when listening in noisy environments

Effects of overall presentation level and hearing aids on emotional responses to non-speech sounds

Listeners with hearing loss exhibit a reduced range of emotional responses to non-speech sounds. They report feeling less pleasant and less unpleasant in response to pleasant or unpleasant sounds than their peers do with normal hearing. However, it is not clear how to counteract the effects of hearing loss on emotional responses. Two possibilities are a) increasing the overall level or b) fitting hearing aids. The purpose of this project was to examine these two possibilities for adults with acquired hearing loss

Feedback reduction system influence on additional gain before feedback and maximum stable gain in open-fitted hearing aids

Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to update existing data on additional gain before feedback and maximum stable gain in commercially available, open-fit hearing instruments. A secondary purpose was to evaluate ratings of sound quality with feedback reduction systems active.Design: Additional gain before feedback, maximum stable gain and subjective sound quality ratings were obtained for six commercially available hearing instruments utilising modern feedback reduction systems.Study sample: Twenty adults (22-46years) with normal hearing participated in gain measurement testing. Thirty adults (22-39years) with normal hearing provided ratings of sound quality.Results: Mean additional gain before feedback for 2000-4000Hz ranged from 5 to 16dB across manufacturers. Mean maximum stable gain in the same frequency region ranged from 25 to 35dB across manufacturers. However, meaningful performance differences between participants within each given manufacturer were also identified. Sound quality ratings were not related to the type of feedback reduction algorithm.Conclusions: AGBF and MSG continue to vary significantly both across manufacturers as well as individual ears within a given manufacturer. User satisfaction and performance with hearing aids might be improved by identifying the feedback reduction system optimal for the individual patient